What is an Exit Interview? +10 Questions with Top Answers

You may think that the hardest part of resigning is
behind you, now that you’ve given your boss the customary two weeks notice most
companies require. But it’s not over yet. Someone from human resources may
contact you to conduct an exit interview as part of the company’s process for
departing employees.

Don’t be alarmed. An exit interview doesn’t need to end
in a tragic re-telling of your history with the company. It can be a productive
experience for you and the employer, like the professional equivalent of
getting closure after a breakup.

An exit interview doesn’t have to be a negative experience. (Image Source: Envato Elements)

In this article you’ll learn what to expect in an exit interview. We’ll also review common exit interview questions and you’ll learn what to say in an exit interview.

What Is an Exit Interview & How Does an Employer Benefit From It?

Employers conduct exit interviews to understand why
employees resign and what they could do to minimize that. It’s also done to
find out what an employee liked about the job and company, and how they the
hiring process can improve. After all, an employee’s resignation isn’t always
the result of poor management. It could’ve been the result of bad culture fit
or the resigning employee just didn’t have the skills needed for the job.

So, don’t worry if HR asks questions about the safety of
your workplace or if you’ve ever felt discriminated against during your employment.
They ask these questions not because they already suspect something is wrong, it’s
just part of the routine procedure to
gather information. Whether what you divulge is investigated or acted upon
varies according to the company’s protocol for such incidents.

An exit interview could be done through an online survey
or a face to face interview, usually with someone from HR or a third-party without
prejudice towards you or your boss.

Exit Interview Tips

Employees often see exit interviews in two ways—a total
waste of time or their chance to tell management what they really think, but
couldn’t mention before due to office politics or fear of retaliation from their boss.
Whichever side of the coin you fall on, the following exit interview tips will help you
get through the interview without burning bridges:

1. Decide What You Want

Do you want to tell the company about your manager’s less
than stellar performance or were you satisfied with your working relationship
and just want to let the company know they chose well? Maybe it’s not your boss
that you’ve got a problem with, but the tasks you were forced to do despite them being
well out of your scope. Whatever it is, decide on the topics you’ll cover before
your exit interview so you don’t get sidetracked or emotional.

2. Approach With Caution

Whoever conducts your interview likely has experience
talking to other departing employees, so they already know you’ll have some
complaints and they’re prepared to hear it. What they don’t appreciate is you
bad mouthing your manager for petty or personal reasons.

While it’s irresistible to use this time to air your
grievances about declined leave requests or schedule changes, this isn’t the type
of feedback they need. Information like this won’t help them hire better or
improve the professional lives of your remaining teammates. Concerns like these
are best resolved back when you were still working with your boss.

Remember to keep your complaints about big picture work-related
matters because anything that can be construed as a personal grievance will
just make you look like a whiner.

3. Consider the Impact

It’s naïve to think that negative feedback, especially one
that concerns HR enough to open a discussion with your ex-manager, may not
burn bridges. If your ex-manager gets a talking to because of what you said,
there’s a good chance they’ll resent you a bit. Even if they don’t, your
chances of getting re-hired to work with them again won’t be good.

But negative feedback, however hurtful, won’t give you a blanket ban from the whole company as long as it’s deemed
constructive. They might even be
able to hire you again, just under a different boss.

4. Secure Your Reference Well in Advance

Where possible, request a letter of recommendation from your
boss before you give your two weeks’ notice and before your exit interview is
scheduled. Ask your colleagues and connections in other departments for
LinkedIn recommendations as well. Think of this as an insurance against your
manager’s potential attempt to withhold your reference letter. While this is
unlikely, you’ll feel more confident in the exit interview if you already have
the references you’ll need. Here are some tutorials that can help your references write a recommendation:

3. Leave on a Positive Note

Getting your reference in advance doesn’t mean you can say
anything and everything you want during the exit interview. You should still
leave on a positive note for the sake of maintaining a good reputation among
colleagues.

5. Resist the Temptation to Vent

Stick to facts and keep your opinions to yourself. If you
firmly believe your manager isn’t doing a good job, cite specific examples to
prove your point. If you think current procedures could be improved, explain
why you think that and back up your points with suggestions or verifiable
data.

Common Exit Interview Questions & Answers

It might feel weird to prepare for an exit interview since you’re already leaving the
company and don’t necessarily need to put your best foot forward. Think of it
this way: in a job interview saying one wrong thing could jeopardize your whole
application, in an exit interview saying the wrong thing could lead to an
awkward conversation that your boss and former colleagues may hear about.

Knowing the questions in advance and preparing a diplomatic response is a good
way to ensure your reputation doesn’t get ruined after you’ve got no chance of fixing it because you’re no longer there. Here are the exit interview questions you’re likely to be asked and some good exit interview answers:

1. Why Are You Leaving Your Current Position?

Alternative question:“What made you decide to look for another job?”

You can be honest here without sounding accusatory. If you
left because of your boss, cite a specific explaining how your manager’s
actions impacted you. For example, instead of just saying your boss had
favorites, talk about how your skills weren’t fully utilized because you didn’t
have the chance to work on more challenging tasks.

It’s also acceptable to use better benefits, a higher
salary, or a company practice that you don’t agree with or that’s affected
your career path within the company.

2. How Was Your Relationship With Your Boss?

This question isn’t about whether you liked your boss or
not. HR doesn’t care whether you got close or if you hated working for them. Instead,
they want to know about your boss’s management and communication style,
specifically if their guidance encouraged you to work hard, or made you dread coming
to the office.

Comment only on topics where you experienced the trait
you’re criticizing first-hand. The interviewer isn’t interested in “I heard” or “This happened to my teammate” kind of stories.

Laura Handrick,
HR Analyst at Fit Small Business adds, “You may
not be the catalyst for that manager
being disciplined or fired, but HR will notice. Just do it in a way that
protects you.”

also Keep in mind that HR isn’t interested in every little thing
your manager did to irritate you. Keep those to yourself, not just because it
may be relayed back to your former boss, but because doing may lessen HR’s
confidence in your objectivity.

3. What Skills or Experience Should We Look for in Your
Replacement?

You’re the one who knows how to do your job best—not your
manager or the recruiter. That’s why they want your personal insight into what
it takes for someone to succeed in your role.

For example, your initial job description could’ve initially
included network management as a required skill, but you never had any network
management tasks during your employment. It could’ve been an outdated task no
one bothered to remove from the job ad. The reverse of this may also be true,
where you had to learn skills not mentioned in the job ad or in your job
interview.

4. What Is the Biggest Contributing Factor That Led You to Accept a New
Job?

This question is similar to question one, “Why are you leaving this job?” except in
this case the interviewer wants to find out about your new employer, not your
reasons for leaving. Whatever the status of the economy is, companies don’t
like losing people they spent money training to their competitors. That’s why
companies ask departing employees about their next job.

They want to know how they compare to similar
organizations in their industry in terms of salary, benefits, company culture,
training opportunities, and career advancement because this information will
help them attract and retain people better.

5. What Did You Like and Dislike Most About Your Job?

This question deals with the specifics of your day to day
job. The interviewer wants to know what you liked about your work so they can
play up those attributes when they hire new people. Was it the weekly happy
hours, the informal mentoring sessions with senior employees, or the gym perks?
Whatever it is, the company wants to know what keeps employees engaged so they
can allocate more resources into those activities.

On the flipside, the interviewer also wants to know about tasks
that you didn’t like or think were unnecessary. Now is your chance to give
constructive criticism about menial parts of your job, like unnecessarily long
meetings or approval procedures that take too much paperwork. Be prepared to
justify your complaints with suggestions for improvement so the interviewer doesn’t
just categorize you as another lazy employee who didn’t actually care about
their job.

6. Were You Given Clear Goals and Objectives for Your Job?

Your answer to this job exit interview question reflects your former
manager’s leadership skills. Confirming that you had clear goals and objectives
shows that your manager did a good job in showing how your output contributed to
the company as a whole.

On the other hand, if you explain that all you did was
complete the tasks handed to you—not knowing why they mattered or who depended
on them—it’ll reflect poorly on your manager’s skills. It may also show areas for
improvement in other parts of the company, so you may hear follow-up questions
about the training you received and the company’s culture as well.

7. Is There Something We Could’ve Done to Prevent You From Leaving?

It’s a candid question, so feel free to respond in kind.
Don’t be overly critical or unnecessarily mean, though. For instance, if
you’re leaving because you’re overworked, just say so. Don’t be sarcastic in
pointing it out, even if it’s obvious you and your colleagues are burned out. Besides, the best revenge against a bad boss
is getting a better job not some witty comeback during an exit interview. I Remember, your honesty during an exit interview could benefit colleagues and
the future talent the company will hire.

If
you don’t haven’t already, start revising your resume now. Here are some tutorials to help you improve your resume and also some help for finding a new job:

8. Would You Consider Working With Us Again? What Would Influence You to
Come Back?

Think of this as a formal
way of asking if you resent the company or anyone in it. If you’re not
interested in coming back, just be honest.

9. Were You Able to Achieve Any of Your Career Goals During Your Stay
Here?

Companies that include this question in their exit interview care about the career advancement and
training opportunities available to their employees.

Perhaps your job often felt like a sink or swim environment because you had to learn new skills or tools on the fly. If that made
your job unnecessarily difficult, now is your chance to convince them to train
future employees. Hopefully, the next
person who gets your job won’t face the same difficulties you did.

As for career advancement opportunities, it’s a given that
not everyone gets promoted during their time for any given company. But if you
know you’ve performed above expectations and got nothing in return this is a
valid concern HR will want to address, especially if they’re serious about
developing their talent pipeline.

10. Do You Have Other Comments?

Open-ended job exit interview questions like this are designed to prompt you
into commenting on topics that may have
been missed in the course of the interview. So, if you’ve got other complaints or
questions you’d like to discuss you can bring them up now.

Finally, if you haven’t yet quit your job yet and you’re just reading this tutorial to give you an idea of what to expect once you resign, this tutorial can help you quit the right way:

Remember That You’re Leaving for Greener Pastures

It’s tempting to use the exit interview as a last-ditch effort to make all your complaints
known. Whether you give in to that temptation is up to you. Just remember that
you’re already leaving and whatever you say during that interview may affect
how your remaining friends in that company remember you.

It may feel awkward, just remember that this interview is
just a negligible part of your overall career. Remember that a better job is
waiting for you.